§ 2-123 — Refunds

(a) A participant who ceases to be a member, other than an annuitant, shall, upon written request, receive a refund of his or her total contributions, without interest. The refund shall include the additional contributions for the automatic increase in retirement annuity. By accepting the refund, a participant forfeits all accrued rights and benefits in the System and loses credit for all service. However, if he or she again becomes a member, he or she may resume status as a participant and reestablish any forfeited service credit by paying to the System the full amount refunded, together with interest at 4% per annum from the time the refund is paid to the date the member again becomes a participant. A former member of the General Assembly may reestablish any service credit forfeited by acceptance of a refund by paying to the System on or before February 1, 1993, the full amount refunded, together with interest at 4% per annum from the date of payment of the refund to the date of repayment. When a member or former member owes money to the System, interest at the rate of 4% per annum shall accrue and be payable on such amounts owed beginning on the date of termination of service as a member until the contributions due have been paid in full. (b) A participant who (1) has elected to cease making contributions for survivor's annuity under subsection (b) of Section 2-126, (2) has no eligible survivor's annuity beneficiary upon becoming an annuitant, or (3) terminates service with less than 8 years of service is entitled to a refund of the contributions for a survivor's annuity, without interest. If the person later marries, a survivor's annuity shall not be payable upon his or her death, unless the amount of the refund is repaid to the System, together with interest at the rate of 4% per year from the date of refund to the date of repayment. (c) If at the date of retirement or death of a participant who served as an officer of the General Assembly, the total period of such service is less than 4 years, the additional contributions made by such member on the additional salary as an officer shall be refunded unless the participant served as an officer for at least 2 years and has contributed the amount he or she would have contributed if he or she had served as an officer for 4 years as provided in Section 2-126. (d) Upon the termination of the last survivor's annuity payable to a survivor of a deceased participant, the excess, if any, of the total contributions made by the participant for retirement and survivor's annuity, without interest, over the total amount of retirement and survivor's annuity payments received by the participant and the participant's survivors shall be refunded upon request: (i) if there was a surviving spouse of the deceased participant who was eligible for a survivor's annuity, to the designated beneficiary of that spouse or, if the designated beneficiary is deceased or there is no designated beneficiary, to that spouse's estate; (ii) if there was no eligible surviving spouse of the deceased participant, to the designated beneficiary of the deceased participant or, if the designated beneficiary is deceased or there is no designated beneficiary, to the deceased participant's estate. (e) Upon the death of a participant, if a survivor's annuity is not payable under this Article, a beneficiary designated by the participant shall be entitled to a refund of all contributions made by the participant. If the participant has not designated a refund beneficiary, the surviving spouse shall be entitled to the refund of contributions; if there is no surviving spouse, the contributions shall be refunded to the participant's surviving children, if any, and if no children survive, the refund payment shall be made to the participant's estate.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 90-448, eff. 8-16-97; 90-766, eff. 8-14-98.)